second butt...too much fat?

D

DWFII

Guest
This will be my first butt on my WSM. Weight: approximately 4 lbs. It's 5am and I have three hours to bring it up to room temp. Everything's ready to go but for one question...

The fat "cap" on this butt but seems thick--maybe half inch. Should I trim some of that off or leave it?
 
Won't hurt to trim some of the extra external fat.

have a good cook
 
Let us know how long it takes to cook. Myt 3.5 pounder I did a couple of days ago took 11.5 hours at 235*:shock: !
 
Thillin,

You aren't the first one...in my limited experience the small ones take longer...up to three hours per pound. I've had folks suggest that the small ones don't have enough fat in them...? So I picked one that that was well marbled this time. That's why I'm starting early. bottom line is my wife and I can't eat seven pounds of pulled pork in a week and I don't have a FoodSaver....yet.
 
DWFII said:
Thillin,

You aren't the first one...in my limited experience the small ones take longer...up to three hours per pound. I've had folks suggest that the small ones don't have enough fat in them...? So I picked one that that was well marbled this time. That's why I'm starting early. bottom line is my wife and I can't eat seven pounds of pulled pork in a week and I don't have a FoodSaver....yet.
Click to expand...

And this is how you make friends.
 
DWFII said:
... my wife and I can't eat seven pounds of pulled pork in a week and I don't have a FoodSaver....yet.
Click to expand...

Buy some freeze guard 1 quart Ziplocs. Fill sink with water. Place pulled pork in baggie, seal bag except for about an inch. Hold bag well, and start to submerge it, while squeezing the sides (palm to palm), then have the wife seal the baggie. That'll get most of the air out. Freeze, thaw and eat. I've done this with all kinds of meat and fish. Get that foodsaver for Christmas.:-D
 
Ty is absoutly right on about this. Freezer Zip-Lock bags work great if you get most of the air out. Done this way and stored in a deep freeze, your pulled pork is good for months. FoodSaver is great, it does add to storage time, but I would not hesitate to cook or store BBQ because I did not have one.

After all, they are fairly recent additions to our arsenal, and I have been freezing both cooked and raw meat for 45 years now.
 
I save any pulled pork leftovers in ziplock bags in 1# increments. That's just the right serving size to put in my baked beans, rotel dip, or stir fry it in my voodoo sauce and put it on dollar rolls. Good stuff!
 
Good Idea on the freezer bags. the trick of putting them in a basin of water made the lights go on! Not often that happens these days.:lol:

On another note, I was wondering if I could put a pan of Bush's Baked bean under the butt to catch the dripping and get a smokey flavor. I know it can be done but what I don't know is for how long? Should I put it in right away or should I wait till later in the cook when I may or may not foil the butt at 160* (also gonna add my turkey thighs and some chicken saugsage at that point)
 
DWFII said:
Good Idea on the freezer bags. the trick of putting them in a basin of water made the lights go on! Not often that happens these days.:lol:

On another note, I was wondering if I could put a pan of Bush's Baked bean under the butt to catch the dripping and get a smokey flavor. I know it can be done but what I don't know is for how long? Should I put it in right away or should I wait till later in the cook when I may or may not foil the butt at 160* (also gonna add my turkey thighs and some chicken saugsage at that point)
Click to expand...

I put mine in right away. The longer they sit in the smoker, the more flavor they will pick up. They also reduce down over time and you get a nice and thick sauce. Somebody posted a recipe for smoked beans with Bush's. Add a little maple syrup,molasses,sugar in the raw,onions,peppers,pulled pork,kitchen sink. OK maybe not the sink, but anything else you like. I bought a 12 quart dutch oven for this, but decided those disposable aluminum pans are a lot less work.
Food safety note: Take the beans out or put on a higher shelf when adding the poultry. Above the poultry.
 
DWF - you can surely trim some dat fat off the outside of a butt. There's enough internal fat to keep it from going dry.

Arlin
 
Thanks everyone. I'm at 176* now on the butt...it's been ten hours, it's probably go 12. I've been in the smoker several times even took the grill with the butt out of the smoker altogether forfive minutes oer so while I loaded in the turkey thighs. The thighs look great, now and the beans are just cookin' away. That will probably be dinner--the pork may have to wait til tomorrow. [sigh] seems every butt I do takes three hours per pound. Oh well, it's just as good the next day.
 
Arlin,

225*-240* with one spike nearly to 260* after I opened the access door on the side.

The thighs were delicious but a tiny, tiny bit dry (still moister than most Thanksgiving turkeys)...and I brined them for 4 hours. But I took them out at 175*-180* and my wife said they should have come out at 160* or below, especially if they are gonna sit wrapped in foil and a towel for another 45 minutes.

The pork but came out at about 194* and after sitting for an hour in foil and a towel, pulled beautifully. There was a lot of internal "fat" (?) and connective tissue--maybe no more than usual but although I smoked one other this is the first butt I actually pulled--the wife pulled the other one. Seems like she complained about the same thing. Guess we're just not used to seeing it.

Maybe my theory of not enough fat making the butt slow, is just backwards. Maybe the butt takes so long because it has more fat to render out?

In any case it came out at almost eleven and a half hours..[sigh] they take what they take...what can you do? Cook to temp, cook to temp.

I thank you all for the help this morning. Looks like I got some Q for the week. :mrgreen:

[BTW, I'm just DW...that's actually the name I go by and the only one that will get me to the table on time.]
 
DWFII said:
In any case it came out at almost eleven and a half hours..[sigh] they take what they take...what can you do? Cook to temp, cook to temp.
Click to expand...

Exact amount of time that my 3.5 pounder took at the same temps. Except the last hour I cranked it up to 275*.
 
DW,
Those are the same temps I run, and butts of that size would be jelly inside at the 11 1/2 hour mark here in OK. I wonder if it's an altitude issue? You're at, what, 3,000 feet there? I think there's a thread in here that talks to altitude and cooking that might explain it. Curious.
 
Arlin_MacRae said:
DW,
Those are the same temps I run, and butts of that size would be jelly inside at the 11 1/2 hour mark here in OK. I wonder if it's an altitude issue? You're at, what, 3,000 feet there? I think there's a thread in here that talks to altitude and cooking that might explain it. Curious.
Click to expand...

Shouldn't be, I'm South of you Arlin.
 
i was thinking about the altitude thing too, but I can't seem to get a small butt to cook any faster than a big one either, and I am practically below sea level here[111 feet to be exact]. I have decided to try starting the smaller ones off hotter, then backing off on temp before internal get too high. I did a couple of 4 pound chuck roasts that way the other day in just under 8 hours to get to 195. Have not tried it with a butt yet; maybe this weekend

I normally try to stay around 225, but I started the chuck off at 275, for the first hour, then dropped the temps back to 225. Foiled for the last hour and a half.
 
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